Sunday, July 29, 2007

Weekend Herb Blogging #93

This is a Spring Onion also known as Scallion and Green onion and in parts of Australia it's incorrectly called shallot and eschallot. I'm not one to point fingers at certain states *cough*New South Wales*cough* but this is not a shallot - I will admit that they are getting better at referring to it by the correct name.

Spring Onions are high in Fibre and Vitamins A, K and C, which is especially attractive if you are battling a cold as I am. They also contain Calcium, Copper, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Potassium, Riboflavin and Thiamine.

There is something that always makes me feel better regardless of how under the weather I am - it's also super easy to make. Not much tops a comforting bowl of Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup. I've given this version an extra boost of ginger by infusing the stock with ginger slices - as ginger is a great anti-oxidant I think it can only do me good.

Place the chicken stock and sliced ginger into a pot and bring to a simmer so to allow the ginger to infuse into the stock.

Separate the white from the green parts of the spring onions. Slice both finely.

Heat a little neutral oil in a large pot and when it's come to temperature, add the sliced white part of the spring onion and the ginger. Let this gently sauté for a couple of minutes before adding the chicken pieces - just add a quarter of the chicken at a time. When the chicken has changed colour, add the creamed corn and corn kernels.

Turn the heat up a little and stir this well before adding the stock (strain off the ginger slices). Add half the sliced green parts of the spring onion and let the soup simmer until the corn has cooked through.

Taste and season with salt and freshly ground pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.

If you prefer a thicker soup, then at this stage, stir in the mix of corn flour and water.

Just before serving add in the remaining sliced spring onion greens and while stirring the soup, drizzle in the lightly whisked egg white - this sets as soon as you add it to the soup so it's important to keep stirring to break it up and get a speckled finish.

With a few bowls of this, I'll soon be back at full strength - Many thanks go to all who have sent their well wishes.

17 comments:

If you were Jewish there'd be noodles in your soup. It looks great, Haalo. Now all I can smell is the chicken sweetcorn soup I used to get at Eleganza - a Cantonese restaurant in my area that's sadly no longer there :-(

Haalo, that really looks comforting. And a perfect way for me to use the leftover roast turkey (not that there is very much of it left). I feel like I am coming down with a cold (aargh!) but I am trying to stay strong....P/s: do u have a friand recipe on your blog? I didn't see it...

Ahh, I adore spring onions! I've seen/heard them referenced as shallots as well, something that made my eyes boggle (as it was a chef that did it at the time!), hopefully as it becomes more well known, people will refer to it by the right name!

Thanks Rose - I do hope you enjoy it and thank you for your kind wishes.

Thanks Nora - sounds like the christmas party was a success. Drink lots of chicken soup and it should keep the cold away. I have many friand recipes but haven't put any on the blog - I must change that!

Thanks Anna - it's perfect for the cooler weather.

Thanks Ellie - you would think a chef would know but I suppose it depends on where he trained.

You aren't alone Y, I noticed Lyndey Milan on Fresh calls them shallots at times too, though they also seem to be calling them green onions

Just wanted to ler you know that I made this soup)slightly adapted...I cooked the chicken in the stock and shred it later to add to soup) and it was the best chicken corn soup I've had ever...thanks a lot for the amazing recipe!